Mitigating negative social impacts and maximising positive social impacts of climate and energy policies are central to building the political and social acceptability of the energy transition. If well-designed, the Fit for 55 package can lay the foundation for a just transition in Europe. Each of the files assessed in this briefing has the potential to deliver significant social benefits while accelerating the decarbonisation of the EU economy.
Modelling of the distributional impacts of the proposed Energy Taxation Directive reform and Emissions Trading Scheme extension shows these polluter pays policies can help fight inequality and the climate crisis.
The EU should do far more to reduce its dependence on imports of energy and critical raw materials. This would help the union preserve its independence in an increasingly dangerous world.
EU Member States with greener tax systems tend to also have more progressive tax systems and lower inequality. Opportunities for fair, green tax reform are being missed in the recovery from COVID-19.
This new report finds that EU polluters are not currently paying for most of the environmental damage they cause and explores how taxes and other economic instruments could help to better apply the polluter pays principle.
This blog post reflects on the year in sustainable finance together with colleagues of Think Sustainable Europe, the pan-European Network of sustainability think tanks coordinated by IEEP.
According to a new semi-systematic literature review conducted by IEEP, supported by five case studies, the single most important factor in unlocking local and regional socio-economic benefits of renewables is the degree of ownership of the resources within the region. This is a robust finding across many types of regions, technologies, and research methodologies.
This report examines the socio-economic effects of renewable energy deployment at the regional level in the EU and identifies on this basis factors that are conducive to an equitable energy transition.
The carbon footprints of the richest 1 per cent of people on Earth is set to be 30 times greater than the level compatible with the 1.5°C goal of the Paris Agreement in 2030, according to this new briefing.
Gender is one of the most important determinants of transport choices. EU mobility policy and the European Green Deal are still mostly gender blind, with negative consequences for the sustainability and accessibility of mobility in the EU.
The European Commission’s ‘Fit for 55’ package of proposals would extend EU-wide carbon pricing from around 22 percent of EU greenhouse gas emissions today to over two thirds of EU emissions by 2030, according to an initial analysis by the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP).
European tax systems today are neither fair nor green. But a new political grand bargain on tax is now possible that can help boost jobs, fight inequalities and bring Europe’s economy back inside our planetary boundaries. Here’s how.
Pick just about any measure of climate policy, and the EU leads the US. It has a higher share of renewable energy in electricity generation, better energy efficiency, and per capita emissions less than half those of the US. But on cutting emissions from transport, Europe could soon find itself playing catch-up.
The US is back in the Paris Agreement. Now the big question is what 2030 emission reduction target President Biden will bring to the table ahead of COP26 in Glasgow. His election campaign pledge to target net-zero emissions by 2050 is encouraging, but now the world wants to know about US near-term action.
